An all-star panel of authors at WorldCon was cut short on Friday when a fan made insensitive comments to George R.R. Martin. The attendee got ahold of a microphone and bluntly told Martin that he is “not going to be around for much longer,” and asked how he “would feel about someone else taking over and finishing the books.” Martin did not respond, and left the stage for his next engagement. The author is many years late on finishing his A Song of Ice and Fire series, and he has addressed commentary like this before — mostly online. This public approach not only ended this panel in boos, it sparked outrage online, even among fans who are critical of Martin’s delay.
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The World Science Fiction Convention was held last week in Seattle, Washington, and Martin was there among many of the other top authors in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. On Friday, he appeared on a panel with Robin Hobb, Rebecca Roanhorse, Ryan Cahill, and Brandon Sanderson. Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire inspired HBO’s Game of Thrones, but the latest installment was published in 2011. He has admitted to experiencing writer’s block since then, and been distracted by his worldwide fame, but he has consistently said that he intends to finish the story in two more books.
Martin has gotten comments like this one before, but they usually come online, not in person and not this dramatically. Many commenters on Reddit even said that they’re comfortable making grim jokes about Martin on forums, but they’d never do it to his face like this. Many others felt it was inappropriate in any context. However, the author has seen these kinds of remarks before, and even responded to them on his blog back in May.
Martin is 76 years old and there have been no public reports about his health. It’s worth noting that his fellow panelist Sanderson wrote the final three novels in The Wheel of Time series after Martin’s friend and contemporary Robert Jordan passed away. Jordan left behind notes and expressed his wish for the series to be finished, and his wife chose Sanderson for the job.
However, Martin has said that he does not want someone else to finish his series even if something happens to him before he can get to it. On top of that, Sanderson has said that he would refuse the job if offered, since A Song of Ice and Fire is so different from his own style. He reiterated that refusal on this panel. Since Martin doesn’t want to hand over the reigns, speculating about other authors who might be more appropriate than Sanderson is a moot point.
It’s unclear if the person who asked this question at WorldCon was aware of all the discourse they were wading into, and speculation about their motive and mindset is rampant on fan forums this week. Martin has not responded publicly to this incident, but attendees said that his spirits did not seem dampened as the weekend went on — even at a book signing event that took place shortly after this panel.
Last we heard from Martin, he feels The Winds of Winter is at least 75% finished. When it’s done, he has hinted that he may not begin working on A Dream of Spring immediately, but instead write another Dunk & Egg novella, or the second volume of his Targaryen history book Fire & Blood. For now, fans can find all of his published books in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
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